


Duende

by Ysabetwordsmith



Series: Love Is For Children [4]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Genre: Art, Avengers Family, Avengers Tower, Developing Friendships, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Male Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 23:03:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17374892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ysabetwordsmith/pseuds/Ysabetwordsmith
Summary: Bruce and Tony explore the importance of art.





	Duende

**Author's Note:**

> This poem was created for [Day 10](https://snowflake-challenge.dreamwidth.org/42225.html) of the [2019 Snowflake Challenge](https://snowflake-challenge.dreamwidth.org/39261.html). It was inspired by a square in [my 12-31-18 card](https://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/11682233.html) for the Untranslatable Words Bingo:  
>  _Duende_ (Spanish): The mysterious power that a work of art has to deeply move a person
> 
> It belongs to the series [Love Is For Children](https://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/9744636.html).

Bruce didn't realize  
that Tony was an art lover  
until he moved into the Tower.

Tony was still struggling to rebuild  
a collection of his own after donating  
the one Pepper had once curated,   
back when he was slowly dying.

Bruce had been startled  
to discover that most of the art  
hanging on the walls was _original,_  
not prints, although there were   
also some fine linoleum prints   
and lithographs and printouts   
of various digital artworks.

Sometimes Bruce and Tony  
stumbled across each other  
gazing at a piece of art,   
and they paused to share   
a thought, an insight,  
a witty quip about it.

Later on, Steve roused  
enough to join in, and  
they welcomed him too.

When Tony came home with  
"Dopamine Jungle" and hung it  
in the corridor outside Bruce's lab,  
Bruce stared at it for an hour.

The broad brush strokes   
captured the way light fell  
over a tropical riverbank.

It was so bright, so beautiful,  
the smooth blues and greens  
dotted with startling strokes  
of lemon and pink.

A girl dressed in clothes  
better suited to a summer fair  
rode a skeletal snake through  
the deep green jungle.

It was so pretty,  
and yet so creepy.

Bruce couldn't seem  
to tear his eyes away  
from the painting.

His brain reminded him   
that dopamine was   
a neurotransmitter.

It dealt in movement,  
attention, learning, feeling --  
the ability to perceive rewards  
and take action to obtain them.

That touched on darker levels of   
sensation-seeking, risk-taking, addiction.

Bruce wasn't sure what any of that  
had to do with a jungle, a girl, or  
the bones of a giant snake.

He didn't understand how  
the bright greens and blues  
could be simultaneously  
inviting and unsettling.

"That's yours, you know,"  
Tony said behind him.

Bruce squeaked and  
almost jumped out of his skin.  
"What -- why --" he stammered.

"I bought it for you," Tony said.  
"It reminded me of you,  
and Betty too."

Bruce looked again  
at the painting of a girl  
dipping her toes in a jade river  
while riding a ghostly snake  
through a nameless jungle.

All right, maybe he could  
see Betty in there after all.

"Thanks," Bruce said,  
an unfamiliar smile  
tugging at his lips.  
"I think I like it."

**Author's Note:**

>  _[Iron Man 2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Man_2)_ mentioned Tony giving away his art collection, which Pepper had curated.
> 
> [Linoleum printing](https://www.thoughtco.com/an-introduction-to-lino-printing-2578530) is a type of art that involves [carving a linoleum block and then inking it](https://www.instructables.com/id/Linoleum-Block-Printing/). Watch a [video on lino printing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dchSXc12j6o).
> 
> [Lithography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithography) is a method of printing that [relies on oil and water](https://dmacanvas.com/2014/05/13/make-this-etching-with-cola/). Watch a [video on kitchen lithography](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meYr67WLV9w).
> 
> [Digital art](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_art) can be [created in many ways](https://medium.com/the-art-squirrel/ways-to-create-digital-art-c9c8e487adc). [Read about digital painting](https://www.instructables.com/id/Digital-Painting-For-Illustrators/) or [watch a tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj44LUZLkao).
> 
> "[Dopamine Jungle](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56e40a3a2b8dde4bafb725be/572934e9f699bbb5659fbec1/597cb217db29d6c2e33b88f6/1504860881385/Dopamine+Jungle.jpg?format=500w)" is [acrylic on canvas](https://www.deviantart.com/tanyashatseva/art/DOPAMINE-JUNGLE-696328940), available in various prints.
> 
> [Dopamine](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/dopamine) is an important neurotransmitter.


End file.
